A humorous view of politics, religion, human behavior, and insights toward everyday happenings by a single guy living in downtown Chicago.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Working in your PJs

About a month ago, I gave a presentation somewhere in Wisconsin on finding work opportunities for people with disabilities in rural areas. (Little did I know I had a raging case of pneumonia while doing it.) I recently got the results from those surveys that are handed out to the participants and, apparently, they really liked the last part of my presentation that I called “The Holy Grail: Working From Home.”

I had done quite a bit of research on work-from-home opportunities and I found it pretty interesting as well. With so many people looking for work these days, I thought I’d pass along this info to all of you, my dear reader-puppies.

We’re all familiar with companies who have sent their jobs off-shore to India. But nowadays, many employers are moving their call centers back to the U.S. now that these jobs can be done from home. (Very little overhead for the employers.) It’s called “Homeshoring” or “home shoring” or “homesourcing” or even “rural shoring”.

Sure, everyone would like to work from home in their PJs and lots of Nasty People have realized that. There are LOTS of scams out there. If you see an advertisement saying that you can earn $5,000 a week from home, it’s a scam. Bottom line, if it sounds too good to be true . . . .well, you know the rest.

Another scam is to get you to pay a chunk of money up front for the “opportunity” to apply for these jobs.

That’s an evil, nasty scam. Hello!!Employers pay employees. Not the other way around.

(Note: Sometimes, an employer will require a small fee for a background check, but if it’s legitimate, that’s only after a job has been offered.)

But there are many legitimate companies out there that employ people to work from home.

For example, whenever you call Jet Blue, you’re speaking to someone working from home. Probably in their PJs. Same for 1-800-Flowers. When you go to the drive-thru at McDonald’s, there’s a chance that the person on the squawk-box is someone working from home. Chances are, it’s someone who uses a wheelchair.

No, you won’t be making five-thousand bucks a week. The pay isn’t that great, but you’ll have no commuting costs, won’t have to purchase business attire, and hey, if you’re unemployed, it’s a job.

So, here are some legitimate employers who hire people to work from home.

Thank you for your attention and have a great day.

Oh! And please spend about five minutes to complete the survey before you leave for the networking session in the Sheboygan Ballroom. Thank you.